2016 NBA Draft Scouting Report: Ben Simmons

With the 2016 NBA Draft not too far away, here’s a look at Ben Simmons’ scouting report.

When Ben Simmons announced he would take his talents to LSU while paving his way to the NBA, almost everyone in basketball circles immediately took notice and questioned his decision.

While he made his choice based around family, it was still surprising he chose a non-basketball school over a powerhouse like Kentucky or Duke.

Even though his lone season in college was a relative disappointment from a standpoint of team success, Simmons was arguably the best player in the country thanks to his diverse skill set and physicality. His stat line of 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game with a slash line of .560/1-for-3/.670 was truly impressive for anyone, let alone a freshman.

Simmons is 6-foot-10 and weighs 240 pounds, making him a bruiser at either forward position. What was unusual about his placement on the floor, however, was that he played the majority of his minutes at center.

LSU didn’t have a dominant big man to rely upon in the post, so Simmons ate up most of those minutes, which proved to do more harm than good for his development in the long run.

Simmons is a mismatch no matter where you play him, but he’s the most effective operating with the ball in his hands and making plays for himself or others. More often than not he found himself involved in meaningless post-ups or in the corner attempting to spread the floor (even though his jump shot is mediocre at this stage, but more on that later).

Both of those outcomes completely disregard Simmons’ real talent and it was hard to watch possessions sometimes because of his overall inactivity on offense. Most of his misuse led to an inconsistent motor on defense as well, which doesn’t give an indication of how valuable he is as a two-way prospect.

When Simmons looked engaged he was as deadly of a force in college basketball as anyone else thanks to his ability to run and make plays in transition as well as finish inside. He’s a freight train when driving at the basket similar to LeBron James when he has an opening in the lane allowing him to get easy buckets or draw contact to get to the line.

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What scouts and front office personnel will want to hear from Simmons in pre-draft interviews is just how committed he is to not only everything on the court, but off it regarding dealing with his coaches and teammates.

At times Simmons distanced himself from others on the bench when he had rough patches, and it didn’t seem like he and LSU coach Johnny Jones had a great relationship. Simmons didn’t even stick around at college after the season was over.

We know college is a pit stop for a lot of these talented 19-year-olds, but his commitment level didn’t make anyone a fan of him more than they already were in terms of his basketball talent. His interviews with whoever gets the top pick in the draft are crucial to where he ends up.

His potential may not end up as high as James or a Magic Johnson, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a future NBA star. As long as he remains focused on what’s important and continues to work on his jumper, he has as bright an outlook as any other talent in this draft class.

But let’s not forget just how one-dimensional his game is at the moment. If you take away lanes for him to drive at the basket and force him to launch jumpers, you can force Simmons to give up the basketball to someone else. Without that reliable jump shot from even the mid-range, Simmons becomes a much more average player than his reputation as a versatile juggernaut dictates.

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Whether or not he lives up to the hype at the next level is anyone’s guess, but he’s still the most polarizing player the 2016 NBA Draft has to offer.

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